Vol. 53, No. 7 – July 2005 July 20, 2005 – General Meeting Randall Museum 199 Museum Way San Francisco 7:00 pm doors open . 7:30 pm announcements . 8:00 pm speaker ___________________________________________________________________________________ Nick Kanas, M.D. Mapping the Heavens: The Golden Age of Pictorial Celestial Cartography Pictorial celestial cartography reached its zenith in Europe from 1600 to 1800, when grand atlases were produced with plates locating the stars in beautiful constellation images that were placed in accurate heavenly coordinate systems. But these books also included diagrams of the universe that were based on cosmological theories dating back to the time of the Ancient Greeks. In his presentation, Dr. Kanas will discuss how both cosmological theory and stellar mapping developed and were depicted in the great celestial atlases. He will illustrate his talk with slides of pieces from his private collection. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Nick Kanas is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California/San Francisco and the San Francisco Veterans Hospital, where he does NASA‐funded research on astronauts working in the International Space Station. He has been observing the heavens through a telescope since childhood, and he has been a member of the SFAA since 1978. He has collected antiquarian celestial books and prints for over 20 years. He has given talks on celestial cartography for the California Map Society, the International Conference on the History of Cartography, the Palo Alto Art Center, Bay Area astronomy groups, and the Sydney (Australia) Observatory. He has also written articles on this topic for Sky and Telescope, Mercury, the Journal of the International Map Collectorsʹ Society, and Imago Mundi. 2005 Club Officers & Contacts Club Telescopes President John Dillon (415) 332-8096 Vice President Steve Bryson The SFAA owns 4 club loaner telescopes, Secretary Jennifer Myers (415) 386-7576 Dobsonian/Newtonian reflectors: 6ʺ f/10, [email protected] 8ʺ f/7, and 10ʺ f/8 and a Starblast. They Treasurer Stefanie Ulrey are available for extended periods (30 Speaker Chair Linda Mahan City Star Party Randy Taylor (415) 255-8670 days or more) to SFAA members. These are generally very fine scopes, easy to use and well suited for [email protected] deep sky, planets, and star parties. The loaner custodians are Membership & Stefanie Ulrey [email protected] Subscriptions Pete Goldie & Sarah Szczechowicz, located in San Francisco. Bulletin If you are interested in borrowing a scope, or if you have Editor-in-Chief Phil Estrin (510) 622-2428 items you can donate for the loaner program (eyepieces, star Associate Editor Annette Gabrielli (415) 703-4539 maps/books, collimator, etc.) please contact them via email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or phone (415‐206‐9867). Email Telescope Loans Pete Goldie (415) 206-9867 communication is preferred and strongly recommended for a Honorary Director John Dobson quick and accurate reply. Board Members Russell Cashin (415) 823-7545 Peter Schumacher ***************************************** Jorge Morales (510) 337-1446 Kenneth Frank Club Astronomy Videos Robert English (415) 383-6475 [email protected] The SFAA owns a series of astronomy Nancy Cox (415) 269-8259 videotapes featuring Alex Filippenko, a Michael Portuesi (415) 550-9366 world‐renowned professor of astronomy at Alt. Board Members Don Charles (415) 897-6554 Dirk Lammerts (415) 242-1464 UC Berkeley. The videotapes provide an Webmaster Joe Amato introduction to astronomy and cover topics such as the Solar System, the lifecycles of stars, the nature of galaxies, and the Membership Dues birth of the Universe. The SFAA loans the tapes free to all The mailing label on the back of this issue shows the month and members. If you are interested in viewing these tapes, you year through which your membership was paid. If the date has may check them out at any of the SFAA General Meetings. passed, your membership has expired. Members may receive no These tapes were kindly donated to the SFAA by Bert more than one bulletin after the expiration of membership. Katzung. Our librarian is Dan Christian. Please renew soon if your membership is expiring. For information on the course tapes themselves: http://www.teach12.com/ttc/assets/coursedescriptions/180.asp Online services for SFAA members The SFAA's Secretary's Web Site helps keep SFAA information together and accessible to members. The site URL is http://www.whiteoaks.com/sfaa/. At this site you can find such information as minutes from meetings of the Board of Directors, the SFAA official by-laws, and other information. SFAA also offers email lists to supplement the bulletin board offered at the SFAA's official web site. At present there are two email lists – an unmoderated list for use primarily for business and discussion by the Board of Directors (but open to all members), and a moderated announcement list for all SFAA members. If you would like to be added to the SFAA-announce email list, please contact the secretary (mailto:secretary@sfaa- astronomy.org) and let him know. You can also sign up for the list yourself at this URL: http://www.whiteoaks.com/mailman/listinfo/sfaa-announce Above the Fog is the official bulletin of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers. It is the forum in which club members may share their experiences, ideas, and observations. We encourage you to participate by submitting your articles, announcements, letters, photos and drawings. We would also like to hear from our new members. Tell us about yourself – what you have done in the past and what other clubs you have joined. The deadline for the next issue is the 20th day of the month. Send your articles to Phil Estrin at [email protected]. Important Upcoming Dates Board Meeting July 5 August 2 September 6 7:00-8:30 p.m. Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way (Near 14th Street and Roosevelt) SFAA General Meeting & Lecture July 20 August 17 September 21 7:00 p.m. Doors open 7:30 p.m. Announcements 8:00 p.m. Speaker th Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way (Near 14 Street and Roosevelt) City Star Party July 30 - 8:30 p.m. – Telescope Clinic 7:30 p.m. – At Land's End August 27 – 8:00 p.m. – At the RANDALL MUSEUM to compliment the AANC Conference September 24 - 7:00 p.m. – Telescope Clinic 6:00 p.m. – At land's end Land’s End, San Francisco Map and directions http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/sfaa/starparties/cspmap.shtml Mount Tam Public Star Party July 9 , 8:30 p.m. August 13, 8:00 p.m. September 10, 8:00 p.m. San Francisco Amateur Astronomer's Rock Springs Members Only Event (at or near new moon) Mount Tamalpais – Rock Springs July 2 – 7:00 p.m. August 6 - 7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 27, 2005 AANC-CON 2005 Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, San Francisco, CA 94114 Hosted by Sponsored by The AANC is pleased to announce ʺAANC‐CON 2005ʺ conference and workshops to be held SATURDAY, August 27th, 2005 10:00 AM TO 5:00 PM. The conference will be hosted by us, the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers, the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers, and sponsored by both AANC and the Western Amateur Astronomers. This yearʹs theme is ʺCelebrating Bay Area Astronomyʺ and we have an impressive lineup of speakers and activities. We will also be celebrating John Dobsonʹs 90th birthday! Our speakers include Timothy Ferris, Lynette Cook, Steve Gottlieb and Richard Crisp; with additional presentations by Bob Schalk and ASPʹs Marni Berendsen. The $25 registration fee will include all speakers and workshops plus lunch. That evening, weʹll have a star party at the Randall and deliver our 2005 awards. In addition, we hope to have a workshop on astronomy clubs and land use issues; focusing on the relationships (good and bad) between the park systems and amateur astronomers. Visit the conference web site at http://www.planitarium.net/aanc/aanc‐con2005/program_guide/ The $25 registration fee includes admission to all speakers and workshops, as well as a boxed lunch. We appreciate pre‐registration, as it helps us plan the number of meals needed. We ask that you register for the event either online via PayPal or send your $25 check payable to ʺAANC‐CON 2005ʺ to: Don Stone, AANC Treasurer, 19047 Robinson Rd., Sonoma, CA 95476‐5517. If you wish to pay at the door, please notify us in advance by emailing [email protected]. The AANC acts as a forum for communication to the Astronomy Community, funds public outreach events, seed money for educational programs, and is once again holding its annual conference and awards. We invite you to this conference and historic 90th birthday celebration for John Dobson our SFAA Emeritus Board Member. VOLUNTEERS...we need ʹem. Contact Stacy Jo McDermott at aanc2005volunteers at hotmail.com. The Amateur Astronomer Communityʹs volunteers will handle the following: Speaker helpers ‐ 3 Memory book helper ‐ 1 Valley of the Dobs ‐ 3 people to watch the dobs while unattended by their owners Set up on Friday ‐ 3 to help out with Randall folks Saturday Tear down – 6 Vendor helpers ‐ 2 Star party helpers – 6 Art and construction projects for kids 6 Dob in a Day ‐ to assist Richard Ozer from the Telescope Makers Workshop Misc ‐ 6 (2 shifts of 3 people) Since weʹre hosting this event, itʹd be nice if we had a good SFAA turnout to help – besides, you get to hear all the speakers and attend the workshops for free! Thank you for your support. Richard Ozer and Kenneth Frank, Co‐Chairs . AANC Conference Committee Participating Member Clubs TEMPEL TANTRUM Coined phrase from John Dillon Kenneth Frank You know, like the oneʹs you used to have as a kid...not really! For those of you thinking of viewing Deep Impact., here are some ideas.